Musical instruments

REVIEW – Fender’s new Player Series Jaguar guitar is begging to be picked up and played. What is it? The Jaguar body style is a classic offset-body design that moves some of the mass towards the tail resulting in a very comfortable playing position. Clearly a descendent of the legendary Jazzmaster, the Jaguar has as …

What is it? Roli’s Lightpad Block M is a touchpad for musicians that attempts to and mostly succeeds in removing restrictions and enabling musical discovery. With their Lightpad, all you need is a mobile phone or tablet and your fingers. What you do or create beyond that is completely up to you. Hardware specs Dimensions: 94 …

The world seems pretty screwed up right now and you can’t help but get a little depressed when you are reading your news feeds, social media, watching TV news, etc. One remedy is to put down your phone, laptop, and TV, and pick up a ukulele. It’s tough to be sad when you’re strumming one …

If you play a stringed instrument, there’s one thing that you always do before you play a song. You make sure the strings are in tune. If you aren’t blessed with perfect pitch, you own a tuner. Tuners come in a variety of shapes and sizes, but most of the ones you see today, clip …

You won’t need even a tiny practice amp with the Fusion Guitar. In a body about the same size and weight as an average acoustic guitar, Fusion has incorporated a “US designed ultra-efficient 20 Watt Class-D amplifier module with low noise (-90dB) and low distortion (THD+N = 0.1%)” and “two Tymphany Peerless full range speakers …

Have you always wanted to learn to play the drums but never had the money or space? Now you can and you don’t even need to own a set of drums. I know you’re asking yourself “Did he just say I could play the drums without actually owning a set?” Yes, I did. With Freedrum …

If you’re not familiar with the Zivix jamstik, it’s an ultra-portable 6-string MIDI guitar controller that connects via Bluetooth to your iOS device or Mac. The size of this instrument makes it perfect for on the go music noodling and performances, but the narrow shape does make it difficult to play without using a strap. …

I’ve seen hundreds of ukuleles made of all sorts of exotic woods and even carbon fiber, but these one of a kind musical instruments from Tyde Music use reclaimed materials from piers, boat houses, old barns, and more.

A lot of people who enjoy playing guitar for fun and profit don’t just own one instrument. They are always seeking something new, better and different. The problem is that owning multiple guitars takes a lot of money to buy them and a lot of space to store them. Somnium guitars look like they could …

There hasn’t been a whole lot of innovation in stringed instrument tuners in the last few years if you don’t count that they continue to shrink in size like the D’Addario NS Micro which clips to the edge of a guitar or ukulele’s sound hole. That’s why I was surprised to hear about the Cling …

Fender, the iconic guitar manufacturer, has released an Android version of their Fender Tune guitar and bass tuner application. Larry talked about the iOS version of this app last summer, and now it’s available for free for Android devices. The app uses the mobile device’s microphone to listen to a plucked string’s pitch and then …

If you’ve ever wanted to create music but felt you didn’t have the aptitude or ability to play a physical instrument, the BLOCKS system from ROLI looks like a simple and fun way to make your dreams come true without needing a huge budget. ROLI BLOCKS is a scalable music creation system that connects together …

We like to cover IK Multimedia products because they consistently offer powerful tech music accessories that are fun and easy to use. Today they announced the iRig HD 2 pro-quality digital guitar and bass interface for iOS. The iRig HD 2 features 24-bit analog-to-digital conversion and 96kHz sample rate. The device connects directly to your …

The Mogees sensor will turn a table into a drumkit, a skateboard into a harp, a shovel into a guitar, etc. The sensor is a contact microphone that connects to an iPad or iPhone and creates music from the vibrations within a variety of materials such as woods, metals, plastics, and glass. But it gets …

Wow, now I think I’ve seen everything… Apparently, fingertip protectors for playing guitar, ukulele and other stringed instruments is a thing. The protectors come in a package of four and are made of food-grade silicone material that stretches to fit the size of your index through ring fingers. Each fingertip protector has an opening in …

What’s Julie working on?

I don't normally wear a watch, but that doesn't stop me from appreciating the look and features of the current crop of smartwatches that are on the market like the TicWatch Pro which has two different displays that give it extra battery life beyond a typical smartwatch. Stay tuned for my review coming soon. Please follow The Gadgeteer or register for our newsletter so you won't miss my review. (8/13)